The percentage of companies with access

In the business-to-business market, Internet access levels are higher than for business-to-consumer. The DTI International Benchmarking Study for 2004 (DTI, 2004) shows that around 95% of businesses in the majority of countries surveyed have Internet access although this figure masks lower levels of access for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and particularly micro-businesses. Understanding access for different members of the organisational buying unit amongst their customers is also important for marketers. Although the Internet seems to be used by many companies we also need to ask whether it reaches the right people in the buying unit. The answer is 'not necessarily' - access is not available to all employees. This can be an issue if marketing to particular types of staff who have shared PC access such as healthcare professionals for example.

Search engines are special sites on the web that are designed to help people find information stored on other sites. There are differences in the ways various search engines work. Learn more about this topic within this guide.